Desktop internet usage is on the decline

ComScore, an online measurement specialist, has released new data that shows that less users are using desktop devices to access the Internet and are instead browsing on their smartphones and tablets.

The company has noticed a steep decline in the overall time people have spent online in the US using both desktop PCs and laptops.

In the past four months, desktop internet usage continued to fall and it has done so on a year over year basis. According to ComScore, it fell 9.3 per cent in December of 2015, 7.6 per cent in January, 2 per cent in February and 6 per cent in March. Some analysts have suggested that users have opted to browse on their mobile devices instead but before December of last year, desktop Internet usage had risen for 13 months straight.

ComScore's previous data from May 2015 saw that mobile Internet usage was increasing, along with desktop Internet usage. This was most likely due to increased Internet usage by consumers on both platforms.

However, the company's recent data highly suggests that desktop Internet use is declining and that it may have even peaked in 2015. ComScore's data shows that March 2015 was the month in which users browsed the Internet most heavily over the past three years on desktop devices. During that month, US Internet users spent a total of 567 billion minutes on the web.

Mobile Internet has made significant strides since it became mainstream after the release of the iPhone in 2007 and the subsequent smartphone boom. Now the investment that companies poured into making their sites and services available on mobile may finally be paying off.

However with a decline in desktop Internet use, companies may begin to allocate more of their resources to developing mobile experiences for their customers.